The military training period for A University is fully enclosed, and Lin Zhu’s application for off-campus living won’t be processed by the school until the semester officially begins.

That means—

For at least the next half month, he must comply with the freshman enrollment arrangements and move into his major’s four-person dormitory.

During this time, Lin Zhu can only contact Yan Ruojun via phone.

The night before reporting, the man helped him pack his suitcase, stuffing in several bottles of sunscreen one after another, and gave him repeated instructions: “Puppy Lin, this bottle is face cream; apply it before going out in the morning. This one is spray; you can carry it with you…”

Lin Zhu lay on his back, nodding without fully understanding the depth of the care, feeling a sense of obedience. A hand slipped through the gaps in his clothes, landing on the man’s stomach, which wasn’t yet very visibly distended.

Yan Ruojun poked him in the ribs with his elbow, “Isn’t it boring to kiss and touch me every single day?”

Lin Zhu shook his head, replying a beat slow, “Not boring.”

However, Yan Ruojun didn’t dwell on that topic for too long. He turned back to fussing over the trivial details of Lin Zhu’s life with his future roommates. After talking for a while, he suddenly realized, “Puppy Lin, have I become long-winded lately?”

Lin Zhu just parted his lips, his canine teeth slowly sliding over the man’s scent gland behind his neck, replying vaguely, “No, and…”

“I like listening to it.”

Lin Zhu really liked listening.

Whether it was Yan Ruojun’s earnest advice as an elder, or the man’s hoarse, stifled sobs between the sheets… he was never tired of it; in fact, he always wanted more, and more.

On the day he reported to school, Lin Zhu didn’t let Yan Ruojun see him off.

Although the man had successfully made it through the first trimester and the negative reactions like nausea and dry heaving had stopped, it was impossible for him to completely let go of company affairs and take nearly a year of maternity leave.

Yan Ruojun just wasn’t going to the office anymore.

During the time he moved in with Lin Zhu to focus on the pregnancy, he used a laptop to work remotely. Fortunately, the workload was far less than before, and there was no need for business trips.

Lin Zhu saw it all and really didn’t want the man to be too exhausted, so he blocked him from leaving the house and dragged the suitcase downstairs himself.

This year’s summer was exceptionally long.

The sky was extremely clean, without a single cloud.

The scorching sunlight had no cover, spilling onto the pedestrians on the ground and casting deep shadows.

The gate of A University was bustling, filled with freshmen dragging suitcases. The air was filled with the rumble of rolling wheels.

Lin Zhu’s height was a head taller than the average for his age, and standing in the crowd, he looked like a crane among chickens. Added to that was his “cool guy” face that far exceeded the average person’s, drawing many sidelong glances along the way.

“Wow, that Alpha is so handsome…”

“Which one?”

“The one in the baseball cap, very tall!”

However, those fragmented whispers couldn’t reach Lin Zhu’s ears. He walked straight toward the dormitory building, finding the corresponding door number on his phone screen.

The four roommates were all freshmen in the same major and class, including Lin Zhu, there were three Alphas, and the other one was a Beta.

Following that, military training unfolded in full swing.

With the addition of sharing the same dormitory, Lin Zhu became familiar with the other three first, but due to his lack of words and that “world-weary” face, others didn’t usually put their arms around his shoulders or engage in roughhousing.

Until one day after training.

A small episode occurred in the dorm.

That night, the four of them lined up to shower.

By turn, Lin Zhu was last.

After eleven o’clock, he took his towel and change of clothes into the bathroom, not forgetting to bring his fully charged phone.

At this hour, Yan Ruojun might send him a message.

He wanted to see it in time and reply.

Just as Lin Zhu expected, Yan Ruojun sent him a WeChat before going to bed, asking: [What are you doing?]

Lin Zhu had just finished rinsing the foam from his head, and upon hearing the special ringtone he set for the man, he couldn’t help but wipe his hands dry, prioritizing the reply: [Taking a shower, ge. I’ll call you back from the hallway when I’m done.]

The man replied very quickly.

[Yan Ruojun: Why wait until you’re finished?]

Lin Zhu’s gaze scanned past those six words. The next second, the phone in his palm vibrated—

Yan Ruojun was calling him on a video call.

Lin Zhu stared at the screen for a few seconds, his fingertips silently tapping the green circle representing accepting the call.

The video connected.

He placed the phone upright on the shelf; the camera only captured his upper chest, which didn’t look overly exposed and was still within an acceptable range.

“…Wow.”

At that moment, the man on the other side of the phone, wearing a bathrobe and leaning against the headboard, deliberately let out a sigh filled with teasing.

Lin Zhu lowered his eyes to look at the man’s face, softened by the dim yellow light on the screen. He didn’t speak, but his movements were a bit uneasy.

Honestly, he and Yan Ruojun were often open with each other, but this situation was different.

Lin Zhu said helplessly: “Ge, I haven’t finished washing yet.”

Yan Ruojun still remembered his cautious attitude toward online privacy, so he didn’t tease him anymore. He just quietly looked at the young body on the screen for a while, then suddenly said:

“Puppy Lin, it hasn’t even been a week of military training, and you’ve already tanned…”

Lin Zhu turned down the showerhead’s flow; the sound of water hitting the ground also lessened, enough for him to hear the man’s question.

He touched his neck and his two upper arms, responding: “I applied it, but the UV rays are too strong lately.”

On the screen.

Yan Ruojun slowly shrank into the quilt, half his face buried in his husband’s pillow, unable to help but yawn, “Hmm… I put a bottle of men’s moisturizing lotion in the suitcase. Remember to wipe it on before going to bed so you don’t get sunburnt and peel.”

Lin Zhu said “Oh” first, then asked: “Sleepy?”

“Hmm…” The man blinked, “I feel like I get sleepy more easily than before, and I’m always hungry, so I bought some snacks.”

Due to the physiological structure of a male Omega, Yan Ruojun would be admitted to the hospital for waiting for birth when the month was full. When the time came, he would give birth to the child via a cesarean section.

In short, he didn’t have the worry of [what if the child is too big and leads to dystocia], but Lin Zhu still couldn’t set his heart at ease.

He was afraid Yan Ruojun wouldn’t eat enough, and also afraid he would eat too much.

Thinking it over, Lin Zhu only said,

“If you’re not busy, remember to send me what you eat every day so I can see.”

Hearing this, Yan Ruojun seemed to think of something and suddenly laughed twice, “We seem to have swapped roles. Before, it was you being managed by me every day, and now it’s me being managed by you?”

Lin Zhu didn’t commit to a comment.

Yan Ruojun just watched him rinse and wipe himself in silence. When Lin Zhu was about to put on his pajamas, he whispered,

“Puppy Lin.”

The voice was light, like a dream-like murmur.

Fortunately, Lin Zhu didn’t miss it.

He grabbed the phone, using his fingertips to wipe away the water droplets splashing on the screen, but it felt more like caressing the man’s profile, “Ge, if you’re sleepy, go to sleep first. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Yan Ruojun buried himself deeper into the pillow, his voice muffled, bringing with it an indescribable irritability, “Can’t sleep. I feel blocked and swollen, and it hurts a bit.”

Lin Zhu became nervous the moment he heard this.

He asked hurriedly: “Where does it hurt?”

Two seconds passed. The man on the screen extended his hand, pulling the phone away, and loosened his bathrobe collar slightly, signaling: “It hurts here.”

“I asked about it in an online consultation…”

Seeing Lin Zhu’s tense expression, Yan Ruojun continued:

“The doctor said it’s individual differences for a pregnant Omega. I might enter that stage faster than other Omegas, but it’s still considered a normal phenomenon. There’s no danger.”

Lin Zhu let out a light breath after hearing this.

It was good that there were no problems with his body.

Yan Ruojun didn’t close his collar, just pulled the quilt up, talking with his eyes half-closed from exhaustion, “It’s still blocked now, Puppy Lin. Wait until you finish military training and come home…”

The rest of the words were unclear.

Lin Zhu swallowed unconsciously, his Adam’s apple rolling upward quickly. A drop of water slid down from his neck, landing plop into the hollow of his collarbone.

He couldn’t help but count silently in his heart,

…How many more days until he could go home?

Lin Zhu didn’t hang up the video call until the man fell asleep.

He walked out of the bathroom; forty minutes had passed, much longer than his usual washing time.

At this very moment, it was almost midnight.

The other three in the dorm were all lying in bed, each holding a phone, either playing games or chatting with people online, but that didn’t stop their internal dormitory chatter.

One of them was scrolling through social media when he suddenly said,

“I saw someone confessing to Lin Zhu on the campus wall. The description is super obvious, and there are many replies underneath… everyone wants his contact info.”

For that last half, he was lying across the edge of his bed, saying it to Lin Zhu, who was standing by the desk wiping his hair.

Before Lin Zhu could speak, the other two raised their heads and replied: “Really? Send me a screenshot!”

“Send it to the dorm group, send it to the group!”

Two seconds later.

The two of them exclaimed in unison: “Holy crap, so many likes. Lin Zhu, are you about to go viral?”

“Wow, the Omega who posted the confession included a photo. Very enthusiastic. He seems to be from the Art Academy? He’s very pretty… Lin Zhu, do you want to get to know him?”

Lin Zhu had just rummaged out the moisturizing face cream Yan Ruojun mentioned in the video from the cabinet and was about to apply it to his face. Hearing this, he looked around at his three roommates and let out an “ah.”

The next instant.

He slapped the moisturizer onto his face, rubbed it in quickly, and then tugged at the silver chain extending into his pajama collar, continuing:

” …I’m already married.”

The three people lying on the beds sat up in unison, looking down at Lin Zhu, the only one sitting at the desk, issuing sounds of confusion in unison.

“Ah???”

Lin Zhu used his finger joints to hook the chain, at the bottom of which dangled a small round ring, swaying slightly and refracting a silvery micro-glow.

It was clearly a man’s wedding ring.

Lin Zhu was silent for two seconds and continued: “Because military training regulations prohibit wearing jewelry like rings, I temporarily took it off.”

Strictly speaking, necklaces weren’t allowed either.

But Lin Zhu really didn’t want to take the ring off, so he bought a chain to thread it on. Usually, it was hidden in his clothes, and basically, it couldn’t be seen.

The air was very quiet.

A long while passed.

The roommate who had seen Lin Zhu video-calling in the stairwell earlier remembered this incident and asked hurriedly: “So… the reason you fix yourself to run to the hallway stairwell to call every day is to chat with your Omega?”

Someone else asked,

“Wait, wait!”

“You guys aren’t dating, but married??”

Lin Zhu pushed the ring back into his collar and nodded seriously.

The three roommates: “…Holy crap.”

“Lin Zhu, you don’t seem to be a local, right?” One of the roommates was a local, and after reacting, continued to ask, “So is it a long-distance relationship with your Omega?”

Lin Zhu denied it: “No.”

“We are both from Beidu City. After I was admitted here, he moved here with me.”

As soon as the words fell.

The others exclaimed “Holy crap” in unison again.

“After the military training is over, I will apply to the school to move out and live off-campus…” Lin Zhu pursed his lips, unable to help but reveal a little, “He is pregnant now; I have to take care of him.”

The tone was light and lifted.

The three roommates: “………………”

The person who saw the campus confession wall first started typing rapidly, replying underneath:

【Do not disturb, this Alpha is not single.】

After sending this message, he threw his phone onto his pillow and jumped off the bed with a thud.

Followed by two more thuds.

The other two also jumped off the bed.

Lin Zhu, surrounded by three men: “?”

The next second, the three men tacitly pounced on him, putting him in headlocks, their voices inexplicably desolate: “Lin Zhu…”

“——You little brat!!!”